Corrie Lynn Green - In the Root Cellar (2023) Hi-Res

Corrie Lynn Green released a hidden gem of an album this fall, In the Root Cellar. Hailing from Appalachia – having grown up nestled in the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia – Corrie Lynn Green is gently whittling her way into the Americana music scene with real folk music that’s rustic, a little bit creaky, and absolutely authentically raw. She creates songs that immediately remind you of a haunting melody from long ago, windblown and turning up on your front porch on a breeze originating after traveling from far across the mountains.

“Ain’t Over Yet” is a perfect introduction to Corrie Lynn’s style, “I was lost, I lost my mind, drifted over on the center line…” sung in her sweetly melancholy, honest style. The production is easy with acoustic instruments blending for a moment and taking turns.

“Cellar Full of Beets” is simple yet somehow directly on target for much of American, rural life: “Lamppost, tornado sky, the neighborhood, we’re getting by. Luck is a very scary thing….” and then “I used to wonder how we were all gonna eat, now there’s lettuce in the garden and a cellar full of beets.” Simple satisfaction and the importance of your own patch of land.

“Bird on a Wire” is on of those tunes you’ll be humming to yourself days later, as it emerges from its place in the album to center stage. A song that starts out about her mom and dad doing the best they could with the tools that they had, and realizing that we are all human beings needing to heal, and needing to let go of blame, an acknowledgement of the passing of time and awareness of mortality.

“Anxiety” highlights real, rational fears – mind going blank, worries, driving in the city. Soft piano accompaniment supports this cathartic number.

Later in the album, “Mountain Girl” highlights banjo and Corrie Lynn’s raw singsong vocals once again, “you read me poetry, and said we’d be forever, I was just a mountain girl, I loved you like a treasure, a different universe.” We are right there with her as she gets her heart broken by someone from a different world.